Fish cleaning trough for boats

ABSTRACT

A fish-cleaning trough adapted to be easily mounted to or removed from the gunwale of a boat provides a convenient means of supporting a fish as it is cleaned during motions of a boat. The trough is suspended over the water as the fish are cleaned to facilitate disposal of wastes and it is partially open at the ends so that rinse water and organic wastes can easily run out, while the fish remains confined to the trough. The trough is attached to the side of a boat by utilizing securing means including pivotal brackets, hinges, and/or adjustable clamps. Materials used are plastic, wood, galvanized metals, or other protected metals to avoid and/or to inhibit corrosion and rusting.

United States Patent Lewis 51 June 13, 1972 [54] FISH CLEANING TROUGH FOR BOATS Primary Examiner-Lucie H. Laudenslager [72] Inventor: Elbert G. Lewis, 10435 17th Street, Seatwash- 98168 Attorney Roy E. Mattem,.|r.

22 Filed: July 31, 1970 ABSTRACT [2]] Appl. No.: 59,945 A fish-cleaning trough adapted to be easily mounted to or removed from the gunwale of a boat provides a convenient 1 means of supporting a fish as it is cleaned during motions of a [52] US. Cl. ..17/53, 43/55 boat, The trough is suspended over the water as the fish are Illt- Cl "A229 25/06 cleaned to facilitate disposal of wastes and it is partially open of Search 70; at the ends so that rinse watcr and organic wastes can easily run out, while the fish remains confined to the trough. R f Cited [56] e The trough is attached to the side of a boat by utilizing secur- UNITED STATES PATENTS 7 ing means including pivotal brackets, hinges, and/or adjustable clamps. Materials used are plastic, wood, galvanized 2,560,054 7/1951 Wells ..43/55 metals or other protected metalsjm avoid and/or to inhibit 3,561,043 2/1971 Breckenridge et al.. 1 7/53 corrosion and rusting 2,795,888 6/1957 Garland ..43/55 3,141,257 7/1964 Stull i i ..43/55 2 China, 4 Drawing figures BACKGROUND OF INVENTION Particularly in primitive areas, fishermen are Often conhis fish alongside his boat while away from the shoreline where p the wastes are quickly consumed by birds, etc. Previously, such an easily attachable, often pivotal, fish-cleaning trough was not available to any fisherman wanting to clean his otherwise quite unmanageable slippery fish while still in a boat away from shore.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION The sportsman is provided a convenient means of cleaning fish while in his boat and afloat away from shore by having available a trough to hold an otherwise unmanageably slippery fish alongside his boat and over the water. The trough is removably fastened and may also be pivotally mounted to provide confining trough structures to receive a freshly caught fish at anytime to be immediately cleaned while afloat. The fisherman no longer must try to hold a slippery fish by hand to eviscerate it risking its loss, or alternatively awaiting the return to shore to clean the fish in other land based facilities. The partially open ends of the trough allow rinse water and organic waste to pass easily and conveniently into the water below.

In one embodiment, the trough is easily attached to or removed from a boat by using two attached C-clamps" which utilizefinger operated tightening screws with a swivel clamping end to enable them to conform to the tapered and curved side of a boat. Further conformance is possible for the C- clamps," in turn, may be attached to or removed from the trough by using a wing nut and bolt providing both pivoting and fastening functions. Also the entire fish cleaning trough is constructed from corrosion-resistant materials which will prevent untimely deterioration of the cleaning trough in its outdoor environment.

. DRAWINGS OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. I is a perspective view of the upper side of the fish trough illustrating the concave trough volume, the partially open ends, the attached brackets which can be utilized to connect the trough to C-clamps," and the C-clamps themselves:

FIG. 2 is a top view of the trough and the C-clamps with dotted lines illustrating the brackets attached to the underside of the trough, and also how the C" clamps are secured to the gunwale of a boat;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken in the plane of line 3-3 of FIG. 2 and looking in the direction of the arrows to illustrate the C" clamps, the pivotal fasteners, the boat gunwale and the trough itself with its partially enclosed ends, and

FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view, similar to FIG. 3, showing the addition of a hinge means.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As illustrated in the drawings, a formed fish cleaning trough is secured to a gunwale 11 of a boat to receive fish for cleaning purposes. It has a bottom 12; a sloping farside 14; a sloping nearside 16, which has horizontal top lip or edge 18;

and partial end closures 20 located at the top and held in place by fasteners 22, enabling .rinse water and wastes from the fish to exit easily into the water below.

The trough 10 is supported from below by spaced brackets turn be ond the lip 18 to be pivotally connected to "C- clamps 28 by means of wing nuts 30 and threaded bolts 32,

serving as the pivotal fastening assembly 34 which also passes through a receiving hole 36 in the top 38 of the C" clamp 28.

This assembly 40 of the trough l0, brackets 24, pivotal fastener assembly 34 and C" clamps 28 is then connected to the gunwale 11 or side 13 of a boat by tightening the two C" clamps 28 utilin'ng a finger operated clamping screw 42 having a swivel contacting head 44. As shown in FIG. 2, the gunwhale l 1 may be curved yet fish cleaning trough 10 is readily secured, as the C" clamps 28 are easily pivoted using their pivotal fastening assembly 34 to match the curvature of the gunwhale 11 or boat side 13.

Also there may be times when a fishennan prefers to leave the fish cleaning trough 10 clamped to the gunwhale 11 yet have it stored within the outer, contour of the boat side 13 to avoid interference with a dock or an adjacent boat. Therefore, a hinged structure 46 is added by using a different two piece bracket 48, 50 having a stop 52, as illustrated in FIG. 4. Then subsequent to its use, fish cleaning trough 10 is pivoted back over the gunwhale 11 to be in the interior of a boat.

SUMMARY or ADVANTAGES A fisherman now has an easily mounted or removed, optionally pivotal, and conveniently portable, fish cleaning trough for attachment to a boat to clean fish over the water alongside the boat. It is made compactly, from corrosion-resistant materials to fit any boat to meet the requirements of a boat fisherman who desires to use the lake, stream, river, or sea water to clean the fish and flush the cuttings conveniently through the open trough ends back into the'water below and alongside the boat.

By having such a fish-cleaning trough available, the fisherman is able to clean his fish without returning to shore, where oftentimes, the fish cleaning operations attract wild animals and/or also the controlled disposition of the fish wastes is often difficult. Whereas, the cleaning of fish while yet afloat in a boat is done safely and the fish wastes are readily assimilated by birds and also by other water creatures.

Iclaim l. A fish cleaning trough adapted to be mounted on a boat and extended over the side, so as a fish is cleaned the removed fish portions may be collected clear of the interior and the outside side of the boat, comprising:

a. a fish trough body comprising, in turn two spaced inwardly sloping sides, a bottom integral with the sloping sides, a top ledge integral with one sloping side, and partial end abutments secured between the ends of the sloping sides to leave an exit space below the end abutments b. supports secured to the fish trough body and extending transversely therefrom to position the trough body well away from the interior of the boat and the outside side of the boat; and 0. adjustable clamping means rotatablymounted on the supports of the fish trough body to removably secure the fish cleaning trough to boats with the partial rotation of the adjustable clamping means occurring to accommodate the various curved sides of many boats. 2. A fish cleaning trough, as claimed in claim 1, wherein hinge components are included in the overall assembly so the fish trough body may be pivoted back over the boat edge toward the interior of the boat in preparation for coming alongside a dock or another boat without any necessity of loosening the rotatably adjustable clamping means, thereby keeping the fish cleaning trough well secured to a boat.

t i t II F 

1. A fish cleaning trough adapted to be mounted on a boat and extended over the side, so as a fish is cleaned the removed fish portions may be collected clear of the interior and the outside side of the boat, comprising: a. a fish trough body comprising, in turn two spaced inwardly sloping sides, a bottom integral with the sloping sides, a top ledge integral with one sloping side, and partial end abutments secured between the ends of the sloping sides to leave an exit space below the end abutments through which the removed fish portions may be directed for collection clear of the interior of the boat and the outside side of the boat; b. supports secured to the fish trough body and extending transversely therefrom to position the trough body well away from the interior of the boat and the outside side of the boat; and c. adjustable clamping means rotatably mounted on the supports of the fish trough body to removably secure the fish cleaning trough to boats with the partial rotation of the adjustable clamping means occurring to accommodate the various curved sides of many boats.
 2. A fish cleaning trough, as claimed in claim 1, wherein hinge components are included in the overall assembly so the fish trough body may be pivoted back over the boat edge toward the interior of the boat in preparation for coming alongside a dock or another boat without any necessity of loosening the rotatably adjustable clamping means, thereby keeping the fish cleaning trough well secured to a boat. 